BSTP : What Makes an Application Strong

Success in a Ph.D. program requires that you are ready for independent study. Scientific research involves asking and answering scientific questions. As graduate students learn these skills in our program, their success depends on their background knowledge, motivation, the ability to learn, and resourcefulness in solving problems.

Your application will be reviewed by a panel of experienced research scientists who represent the participating PhD programs in the BSTP. Characteristics of promising young scientists include motivation and experience. Research experience is perhaps the most important pre-requisite for biomedical graduate study. You need to be confident that you enjoy the lab environment, that you work well independently, and that you have some technical ability.

We'd like to know what interests you in science and why those aspects are exciting. We would also like to know what types of research experiences you have had. Did you do an honor's thesis? Have you contributed to a publication? Did you work in a lab after graduation or earn a Masters degree? You might tell us about these activities in your essay, and have the professor who guided the work write a letter of recommendation.

Grades and test scores give us an idea of your academic background and achievement. We do not have minimum grades or test scores. In recent years our students had general GRE scores averaging in about the 70th percentile, and undergraduate GPAs of 3.4 - 3.6. We do not require a GRE subject test, but we're happy to see the scores if you take the test.